60 JOURNEY TO CEXTKAL AFRICA.

at my feet and entertained me with most absurd mixture of flattery and menace. One, patting the calves of my legs, cried out ; " Oh, what fine, strong legs ! how fast they came up : nobody ever went up the Pyramid so fast!" while the others added : u Here you must give us backsheesh : every body gives us a dollar here." My only answer was, to get up and begin climbing, and they did not cease pulling and pushing till they left me breathless on the summit. The whole ascent did not occupy more than ten minutes.

The view from Cheops has been often described. I cannot say that it increased my impression of the majesty and grandeur of the Pyramid, for that was already complete. My eyes wandered off from the courses of granite, broadening away below my feet, to contemplate the glorious green of the Nileplain, barred with palm-trees and divided by the gleaming flood of the ancient river ; the minarets of Cairo ; the purple walls of the far Arabian mountains ; the Pyramid groups of Sakkara and Dashoor, overlooking disinterred Memphis in the South • and the arid yellow waves of the Libyan Desert, which rolled unbroken to the western sky. The clear, open heaven above, which seemed to radiate light from its entire concave, clasped in its embrace and harmonized the different features of this wonderful landscape. There was too much warmth and brilliance for desolation. Every thing was alive and real; the Pyramids were not ruins, and the dead Pharaohs, the worshippers of Athor and Apis, did not once enter my mind. My wild attendants did not long allow me to enjoy the view quietly. To escape from their importunities for backsheesh, I gave them two piastres in copper coin, which instantly turned their flatteries into the most bitter complaints. It waa